work?

phew---there is so much i want to write here. i've been thinking all week of how to explain my 'job' here and i'm not sure that i've got it all figured out, but i'll try.

so---i work for a non profit organization called hand in hand ministries. two days a week i am at an outreach center that is like a daycare/early education center for children affected/infected with HIV/AIDS. wow. those kids are something else! my first day, all i did was spend ALL morning saying "no kenlon, don't do that" "chris, stop that" "merlee, stop screaming" etc.....i have actually only spent one day at the center, so my impressions are new and bound to change. all the kids that attend the center are in need of a LOT of love and a LOOOOOOT of discipline. their home lives are not the best, as you can imagine. some of them would not eat unless they came to the center for morning and noon meals. the schedule as i understand it is this: breakfast, circle time, songs, free play, then snack! after snack, the littler kids head upstairs for baths and play and the bigger kids (ages 2-5) stay downstairs for some activity that is supposed to be educational. i think this is what i'm supposed to be doing, but i'm just not sure yet. and, as described above, my first morning was anything BUT educational! i'll have to work on some 'educational' activities that involve running as fast as possible around the room and screaming as loud as the kids can. apparently, that's what they are all good at! after some activities and possibly some 'free play', it is time for lunch. after washing up, it is NAP TIME! ahhh.....beautiful nap time. getting them all down for a nap is not super easy, but once they're down, it is actually quiet and we get some down time.

the other part of my work is actually doing outreach. don't let the 'outreach center' confuse you. when i'm at the outreach center, i'm with the kids. when i'm at the 'main office' i'm actually doing outreach. this is the part of my job that is really hard for me to describe because i'm not that sure of what i'm supposed to be doing. i think think think i can see the bigger picture and then it is up to me to take all the steps to get myself to where i think i'm supposed to end up. the bigger picture is this: hand in hand builds houses. they are tiny little wooden structures that american families would LAUGH at and would NEVER move into! the sizes are 8 feet by 12 feet for single people or a single mother with one child or 16 feet by 16 feet for EVERYONE ELSE. this includes families with five children. yep. they're tiny. hand in hand only builds the structure--no water, no bathroom, no electricity, nothing. but hey, these little houses are WAAAAAY better than what the folks had before, so everyone is grateful. okay, so hand in hand's mode of thinking is that they don't just build a house, they build a home. the difference is that they seek to provide support to the families after they have the house built. this is where i come in. what i will be doing is going to all the houses that hand in hand has built and conducting assessments. they have not had the staff to do any assessments, prior to my arrival, so i'm pretty much on my own for creating an assessment and deciding what, if any, follow up needs to be done. this is slightly overwhelming. add to that the fact that my supervisor has been going crazy introducing me to everyone as "this is maria. she is a certified social worker." seriously, everyone i run into says "oh, YOU'RE the social worker." i really do feel as though i'm supposed to have these magical social work abilities. i can't really describe the pressure i feel from all these introduction and expectations that have been placed on me! yikes.

what i, personally, have created in my mind as my job is that first i will go to initial assessments for all the families. i have to go with a belizean at first, as the families are skeptical of a white social worker just showing up at their doors. after a few visits with my supervisor, i hope to be able to spend my days visiting the families, sitting down, chatting, and most important, listening. that is where the important conversations will be held, about what they are struggling with and what resources i can possibly provide. right now, they are too proud to admit ANYTHING to me, even when it is OBVIOUS that they have no electricity, running water, and they barely eat. this whole process i expect to take a long time. i have only done 4 assessments, out of 58, and i expect that it will take a few visits with EACH family WITH my supervisor before i can just drop in for a chat. but, once i establish a relationship with the families, i hope that in our informal conversations, i will be able to suggest a few things, like, oh-hygiene practices and whatnot.

that is what i THINK my job entails....Lord actually knows what my days will end up looking like. i'm dependent right now on my supervisor's schedule, as he has to take me around to all the families. and, in true belizean fashion, nothing happens very fast. so, i spend a lot of time sitting around, waiting. yep. that's frustrating, but unavoidable.

so, that's what i've gathered from my first week. again, i have no idea what my job will morph into, but i will certainly keep everyone updated.

another very exciting thing is that i joined a football team! hooray! there is ONE female football league in belize, so it's not like i have a lot of choice, but apparently, the belize city team is pretty good, which is frightening, when you read the description i'm about to write. the team consists of one 40 year old, one 30 year old, a few 20 year olds, and the rest 17 year olds who may or may not have ever played soccer before in their lives. oh yeah, and by joining a 'football' team, i mean soccer. i have been to a few practices, and i'll go to the first game next saturday. that will be SO interesting!

this weekend is a long weekend because it is the celebration of st. george's caye day. now, i'm not exactly sure of what that all means, except that i don't have to go work tomorrow and that i went to st. george's caye last weekend! it has something to do with a big battle and there was a parade down central american blvd. yesterday. it consisted of mainly kids in animal costumes half dancing/half marching down the street. it was about a gazillion degrees and i felt so bad for the ones with elaborate costumes on!

this is about as long as i can come up with right now. throughout the week i have had so many more thoughts as to what i wanted to write (which of course were more clever and descriptive than this) but i am so tired and need to get off the computer!!!

again, as always, i would love to write more, so if you have specific questions about my job or life here, email away!

ugh---i had all these pictures ready to go, but the computer just STOPPED! so so so frustrating. well, one made it through anyway. it's a pic of my housemates at the waterfall. we're standing at the ledge where we all jumped off into the water below.

with more time and patience, i'll attach some more soon!

be well.